Guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of extracranial carotid artery stenosis from the Italian Society for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery

摘要

The Italian Society for Vascular and Endovascu-lar Surgery (SICVE) Guidelines of carotid artery disease review and assess all available evidence in 2013 with the purpose of helping the physicians to make decisions in their daily practice. In particular guidelines aim to guide in selecting the best management strategies for an individual patient, taking into account the influence on outcome, as well as the risk-benefit ratio of specific diagnostic or therapeutic methods.The members of the writing committee performed a comprehensive review of the published evidence for diagnosis, management, and/or prevention of carotid artery disease, including assessment of the risk-benefit ratio for each option.The Task Force has classified and ranked the usefulness or efficacy of the recommended procedure and/or treatment and the Level of Evidence according to the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Task Force for guidelines reporting (Table I).